Backend & API Engineering
Services and APIs that stay up under real load.
Reliable back-ends, well-documented APIs, and data models designed to last — on Node.js, Ruby on Rails, and Python, with the integrations your business depends on.
Overview
Most production incidents trace back to the parts nobody sees: an unindexed query, a webhook with no retry, a background job that silently dies. We build back-ends with those failure modes designed out — clear data models, documented contracts, idempotent integrations, and observability that tells you what broke before a customer does.
What's included
- REST & GraphQL API design and development
- Database design, modelling, and optimisation
- Authentication, authorisation, and role systems
- Payment, CRM, and third-party integrations
- Background jobs, queues, and scheduled workloads
- Monolith-to-service decomposition
How the engagement runs
- 1
API contract first
Endpoints designed and documented (OpenAPI/GraphQL schema) before implementation, so front-end and third-party work can start in parallel.
- 2
Data model review
Schema design with indexing, migration strategy, and reporting needs considered up front rather than retrofitted under load.
- 3
Resilient integrations
Retries, idempotency keys, dead-letter handling, and sandbox testing for every external system you depend on.
- 4
Observability
Structured logging, metrics, and alerting so failures surface with enough context to act on immediately.
What you get out of it
- APIs your own team and your partners can build against confidently
- Query and job performance measured, not guessed at
- Integrations that fail safely instead of corrupting data
- A data model that supports reporting rather than fighting it
This is a good fit when
- Your API is undocumented and every integration becomes a support ticket
- Response times degrade as data volume grows
- Background jobs fail quietly and nobody notices for days
- You need to expose a partner or public API safely
Typical stack
- Node.js
- Ruby on Rails
- Python
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- GraphQL
Industries we deliver this for
Ways to buy this
- Discovery Sprintfrom $1,5001–2 weeks · Fixed fee
- Fixed-Scope Buildfrom $12,0004–16 weeks · Milestone-billed
- Dedicated Teamfrom $4,000/month3 months minimum · Monthly retainer
- Care & Support Retainerfrom $900/monthRolling monthly · Monthly retainer
Starting points, not a rate card — how our pricing works.
Other services
Need backend & api engineering?
Tell us what is in your way. Thirty minutes, no pitch — and an honest answer on whether we are the right team for it.
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